Girl Scouts team up with TEP to give out 150K light bulbs

Tucson Electric Power Co. and the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona are working together to give away 150,000 compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs through Girl Scout cookie sales.

The Scouts will give customers one free CFL bulb and an information card with each cookie order.

The bulbs are provided through TEP’s Energy Star Lighting program, which makes CFL bulbs available from local stores at discounts of up to 50 percent off of regular retail prices.

TEP notes than each CFL saves approximately $4.50 a year — about enough to buy another box of Girl Scout cookies.

The bulb giveaway and discount program are funded by a small “demand side management” surcharge on each TEP’s customer’s electric bill. The program was approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission as part of TEP’s plan to meet state-mandated energy efficiency requirements.

CFLs use about 75 percent less energy than comparable incandescent bulbs and can last up to 10 times as long. TEP gave away 100,000 CFL bulbs with Girl Scout cookie sales last year.

TEP awarded a $10,000 grant to the local Girl Scouts last year for science, technology, engineering and mathematics enrichment programs.

TEP supervisor Gloria Tileston-Tharp loads 55 boxes of Girl Scout cookies and two cases of CFL bulbs. One bulb will be given away with each cookie sale.